I just changed the blades on my Toro Timecutter riding lawn mower.

While putting back the blades I did not pay much attention to the side of the washer that touches the mower blades.

Put per this article, it says that the "You want the cup to go towards the mower blade itself."

First, what does the "the cup to go towards the mower blade mean". Does it mean \/ (with the blade being at the bottom or /\ (again, blade being at the bottom).

Second, is this critical for the functioning and safety of the lawn mower. I just made the change yesterday so can go through and do the whole thing again but wanted to know how critical it is to have the washer placed correctly.

To be honest, the washers seemed to be flat without any cup but again I'm not sure and it is hard to decipher without first taking the deck out.